734 pages! This was my first thought on
seeing the alleged kid’s book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire. At this length and weight, parents would be reading
children one chapter a night for a very, very long time. In
addition, this book was rumored to be darker, scarier, and
containing the death of a well-known character. Would it still be
Harry Potter, innocently playful children’s book?

After plowing through it from cover to
cover, my reaction didn’t change. The book is immense. In some
places it started to drag a bit, not because it was dull, but
simply because this book covers a year in 700 pages instead of 300
or 400. There are an equal number of the clues, mysterious acts,
and furtive behaviors that create the plot, yet spread among
almost twice the pages, the action seems slightly duller.

For those few people who still haven’t
tried it, Harry Potter is an orphan brought up by his horrible
relatives, the Dursleys. On his tenth birthday, he receives the
surprise of his life: he’s really a wizard and is invited to
attend Hogwarts, the magical boarding school for wizards and
witches. He finds that he’s already a hero for having destroyed
the evil wizard Lord Voldemort while still a baby. Now, as he
attends a magical school and makes friends with loyal Ron Weasly
and brainy Hermione Granger, he is forced to struggle with Lord
Voldemort’s return.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire, Harry meets his best friends for the International
Quiddich tournament, yet finds that much more is at stake than it
appears. Someone at the game sends the evil symbol of Lord
Voldemort into the sky. Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts,
only to discover a magical challenge of wizard proficiency that
will strain them all to their very limits. They also must face
exchange students and the Hogwarts annual ball as they struggle
through another school year. Through all this seeps the mastermind
of Lord Voldemort, twice thought to be utterly destroyed, but who
still seeks his revenge on all the wizards, especially Harry
Potter.

This book takes a far darker turn than
some of the previous works, but remains the essential Harry
Potter, complete with new quirky spells, professors, magical
traps, and nasty plots by the school bully Malfoy and company. New
professors, friends, and enemies all make their appearances, as
well as all the old favorites, from Moaning Myrtle to Crookshanks
the cat.

In this extra-long book there is far
more room for backstories, and extra insights into the characters.
We see into the histories of klutz Neville Longbottom, Headmaster
Dumbledore, and even the grudge-harboring professor, Severus Snape.
We see Ron’s oldest brothers, and even Harry’s parents make a
brief appearance, to say nothing of his fugitive godfather, Sirius
Black. While many of the new people, such as the lovely Fleur
Delacour or furtive Professor Moody are kept at arm’s length,
there are many surprising secrets to be learned about the old
characters.

Many of the characters act in
unsuspected ways, giving them far more depth than in previous
books. However, many of them become angrier, as if with all of
Lord Voldemort's turmoil, their own emotions become equally
affected. Professor McGonagall loses her tightly controlled
temper, Hedwig, Harry’s trusted owl, gets mad at Harry, Hermione
becomes an anti-slavery champion who sets out to free all house
elves, and later restyles her hair. Malfoy and his obnoxious
friends have a far smaller role in Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire than the other books. Perhaps he and his friends are
growing up, and find that they have less interest in bullying
others. Ron and Harry fight for a surprisingly large portion of
the book, while Ron’s sister appears to have abandoned her fervent
crush on Harry.

The students seem to all be on the cusps
of various tantalizing relationships as they journey closer to
adulthood. Harry has a crush on Cho (as foreshadowed in Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and even Hagrid, the
gigantic gamekeeper, seems to have found a true love. As Ron
remarks to Hermione at one point, "Hermione, Neville’s right—you
ARE a girl." Once he starts to notice that, the characters’
relationships can never quite be the same.

Yet against the background of blossoming
adolescence, this book seems to hint at darker things than the
previous volumes. Teachers abusing students, slavery, magical
coercion, torture, blackmail, gambling, drunkenness, and even more
insults and threats appear in the fourth book, as well as the
three Unforgivable Curses. Even abuse of the media plays a large
role in the story. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that
the book ends implying that the wizard world is in for some rough
times ahead. And yes, someone important (and undeserving) dies.

So is this book worse than the other
three? No. However, it is slightly scarier and loses some of the
lighthearted vein that has made it so popular with children.
Amusing moments abound, yet something sinister appears to shadow
the entire story, starting from the first display of Lord
Voldemort's followers near the book’s beginning. Depending on the
age of the child, this book seems more likely to provoke
nightmares than any of the others might. The wizard world seems to
contain no more justice than our real world, where murderers may
go free on legal technicalities or plea-bargains, and where
innocent people lose money to crowding corporations or stand
convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.

This book portrays life as it really is.
Innocent people can die, good doesn’t automatically triumph over
evil, especially when good is outnumbered and helpless. So is this
truly a fantasy children’s book? I think everyone knows that Harry
will win in the end, even if book 7, Harry Potter and the Utter
Squashing of Lord Voldemort is a long way off. Despite being
darker, scarier, and more menacing, Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire is still Harry Potter, filled with hilarious
spells and the joys and sorrows of growing up. However, children
or not, readers may want to leave the lights on while they read.